It's funny how quickly people have forgotten that it was Gordon Brown and the Labour Party who led us into the current situation. The Lib Dems made a sensible decision, they joined the strongest party and gave the country a working government and a chance of recovery. And yet they get the most shit, despite having the smallest say in what has happened over the past decade. This coalition should have been a step forward in British politics, a move into a world where the leading party has a conscience instead of undoing everything their rivals had done for the sake of being different. Yet it appears many voted Lib Dem somehow hoping that it would mean a detached, deluded government lead by the Steve Kean of politics would stay in charge. If they wanted Labour in power, then why did they vote Lib Dem?

I suppose the biggest problem for this country is that there isn't a proper alternative to moderate right wing policies anymore. Labour moved away from the left to win elections. Strangely, a lot of their supporters have been so indoctrinated into believing that they represent 'Good' that they still support them expecting the railways to be nationalised again. But the bigger problem is that there is no longer a genuine opposition, whoever isn't in power ends up criticising policies they know they'd have to bring in themselves if roles were reversed. A third party in coalition can, in theory, provide a safety net so that the wackier ideas don't get put into practice.

I'm still not sure why people condemn the Lib Dems for going into a coalition with the conservatives. What workable choices did they really have? Not taking an opportunity to temper conservative policy would have been a kick in the teeth for everyone who voted for them.

The issue has never been with going into coalition... although 'comply and supply' (which i didn't support myself) was a workable alternative, as was a hypothetical 'coalition of the left' without GB... but the main issue with the Lib Dems is that they've backtracked on so many of their pre-election positions they've become unrecognisable.

For more of their supporters than they'd ever care to admit the right wing/free markets side of their policies was something that voters were tolerating because Labour had lost their left wing roots... to get some leverage there and lose out on the (admittedly fluffier) social democrat positions isn't going to keep the base happy.